WA High School Students Compete at Seattle Rep in August Wilson Monologue Competition
Over 50 Seattle-area high school students are preparing to compete in the third annual Seattle semi-finals of the August Wilson Monologue Competition (AWMC) at Seattle Repertory Theatre. The participants will perform a three-minute monologue from one of August Wilson’s plays on Feb. 23, 2013, and 10 finalists will compete in the public finals on Feb. 26, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. Three winners of the Seattle competition will receive cash prizes ($500, $250 and $100) and a trip to New York City to participate in the National Finals on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre in May 2013.
The inspiration for the AWMC was sparked in 2007 in Atlanta by Wilson’s long-time collaborators Kenny Leon and Todd Kreidler of True Colors Theatre Company. They’ve since added regional competitions in Boston, Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, and Seattle with a national competition culminating in New York City. The program is now in its seventh year.
“The goal of the competition is to build partnerships with schools and theaters across the United States and to create educational materials about August Wilson that allow students to connect these important theatre works with educational curricula like history, social studies and literature,” said Todd Kreidler, associate artistic director of Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company. Kreidler was dramaturg for Wilson’s last three plays, and he worked with him at Seattle Rep.
Seattle Repertory Theatre is proud to serve as the Northwest host of the AWMC for a third year. Last year Seattle Rep hosted 25 semi-finalists from high schools throughout the Seattle-Tacoma metro area. Seattle is the city that August Wilson called home and in which did much of his writing. Seattle Rep is the only theatre in the world to have produced all of Wilson's work, including every play in his 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle, as well as his one-man show How I Learned What I Learned.
2012 AWMC Seattle finalist Drew Boeing. Photo by Nate Watters.
More information about the competition is available here.
Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013: Semi-finals at Seattle Rep (closed to the public)
Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.: Finals at Seattle Rep (free and open to the public, tickets required)
May 4-6, 2013: National finals in New York
WHERE: Seattle Repertory Theatre is located at Seattle Center at the corner of Second Ave. and Mercer St., Seattle, Washington.
TICKETS: For the Seattle finals on Feb. 26, tickets are free and required for admission. For ticket reservations, call the Seattle Repertory Theatre Box Office at 206-443-2222 or toll-free at 877-900-9285. Tickets are not available online.
